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Is the allure of Hollywood stardom on the wane as a marketing factor? From Charlize Theron for Dior to Keira Knightley for Chanel, luxury brands have regularly turned to Western film stars to be their global brand ambassadors, featuring in print and billboard campaigns worldwide.
But today, ambassadors are required to feature across more diverse marketing channels, where movie stars don’t always count for much. That’s why many brands are turning to multifaceted, digitally savvy K-pop stars.
In April, Louis Vuitton named K-pop group BTS as its global brand ambassadors, while Tiffany & Co. signed up Blackpink singer and recent solo artist Rosé, who has also been Saint Laurent’s global ambassador since AW20. Fellow Blackpink members have ambassador deals of their own, too: Lisa at Celine, Jennie at Chanel and Ji-soo at Dior. More recently, Burberry partnered with Itzy, and Givenchy with Aespa, both emerging K-pop names.
The deals speak to the broad appeal of these musicians, particularly in the US and Asia-Pacific, two key growth markets for luxury brands, particularly during the pandemic, says Avery Booker, chief operating officer at Content Commerce Insider, who has more than a decade of experience in global luxury market forecasting and digital marketing.
It’s also reflective of the need for ambassadors to appear in a multitude of advertising channels. K-pop singers won’t just wear brands on the red carpet but in a plethora of other ways, from making music, doing TV shows and filming movies to dancing and modelling, Booker says. “K-pop stars are all-round entertainers. They’re the Swiss Army knife of marketing because they can reach audiences in so many countries on all these different platforms.”
Entertainment meets marketing
Global ambassadors play an important marketing role for luxury brands because of their ability to promote a brand in a way that doesn’t look like in-your-face advertising, says Jared Watson, assistant professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. He points out that brands can develop strong connections with consumers through ambassadors with the high-level recognition factor and big fan armies of, say, Beyoncé or Blackpink.
Posts on Twitter and Instagram announcing Louis Vuitton’s partnership with BTS topped half a million within a few hours. Louis Vuitton’s best-performing post on its social channels for Men’s Fashion Week in Paris for AW21 featured BTS, generating $436,000 in media impact value, according to Launchmetrics. Blackpink’s Lisa accrued $1.37 million in media impact value for Celine, more than the house’s own channels.
“When you consider the traditional influencer, there is still a fairly obvious transactional element involved. That’s much less likely to be the case when people think about ambassadors because often they’re already multimillionaires. BTS doesn’t need this partnership with Louis Vuitton,” says Watson. The deal was BTS’s first sponsorship deal with a luxury house, which is significant, he says. Consumers perceive them as “high calibre individuals who like to feel good and they do that by wearing nice clothing. It’s all part of the messaging and less of the functional side of fashion, which is what a traditional influencer might do when they show you how to wear a pair of pants.”
The stars of the future who will be appointed as brand ambassadors will combine entertainment with marketing and play a more active role in promoting the brand, says Booker. “Brands want to work with more than just a face. It involves a little bit more thoughtfulness because the consumer is a bit harder to sell to right now. Maybe they want to shop but they also want to be entertained. Giving them another photograph is not entertaining.”
Much of the desire for entertainment has to do with shortening attention spans, says Kellan Terry, director of communications and analyst at Brandwatch. “People want bite-sized nuggets of content to digest. They want something new constantly.” The lifecycle of ambassadors is also becoming shorter, while the ambassadors themselves are becoming younger.
A strong social media presence is essential for the new breed of ambassador, says Thomas Repelski, co-founder of marketing platform Lefty. “This is definitely the situation that we see in the conversations we have with our clients, and it wasn’t the case a few years ago.”
Ambassadors need to tick more than one box
Over the past decade K-pop stars have benefited from the Hallyu wave, the phrase that sums up the popularity of Korean pop culture and entertainment overseas. Few Western celebrities have the same vast and dedicated followings as K-pop stars, says Repelski.
Blackpink’s Lisa has more than 52 million followers on Instagram and an engagement rate of almost 10 per cent, according to data from Lefty. Top Western fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni, by comparison, has 23 million followers and a far lower engagement rate of 3 per cent (although still above the Instagram average of 2 per cent.) Thanks to her hugely engaged audience, Lisa is responsible for almost 90 per cent of the media value that is generated for Celine, Repelski says.
BTS and Blackpink are able to connect with global audiences more effectively than some of their K-pop counterparts because of their unique background and preferences, says Booker. Blackpink’s members aren’t all Korean-born and raised; they’re from various parts of the world and have more diverse influences. BTS, meanwhile, have a playful and androgynous style, which is significant as more luxury brands blend men’s and women’s collections on the runway, he notes. “There isn’t a similar pop group in the West as diverse and unisex.”
Regional relevance, virtual stars
The market for ambassadors will become more competitive as brands compete for exclusive contracts. Fees for talent could well skyrocket, predicts NYU’s Watson. Unlike decades past, more ambassadors will co-create with their brand partners, he believes. “It’s not a one-hour photoshoot but an ongoing relationship,” he says. “I would bet that Louis Vuitton has a BTS capsule collection in the pipeline, and if I were to bet even further, it might even be a collaboration with each of the artists. They’re going to see how far they can stretch it as possible. It means we’ll see some very interesting collaborations emerge.”
Brands may also appoint more brand ambassadors around the world to target audiences at a much deeper level, says Booker. “It can be risky to put all your eggs into one or two baskets. I think where things are going is that the idea of having one ambassador is less important or appealing to a brand, and they could have five or six instead that are regionally powerful. For example, in Central and South America there are reggaeton stars who are super megastars over there. Working with someone like that in South America or Spain makes complete sense.”
Brands that don’t have a big budget should keep an eye on emerging talent or other more accessible options. A watch company initially hoping to tap Serena Williams as its ambassador decided to partner with her coach instead. “His name is only known to die-hard tennis fans, but that was a fantastic strategy,” says Brandwatch’s Terry. Others recommend keeping an eye on emerging talent on popular platforms like Netflix.
Virtual idols may also be on the cards, says Booker. “Working with a real-life person always has risks because they might say something controversial and then as a brand you’re stuck with this person.” CGI influencers like Lil Miquela and Shudu are likely to resonate more with younger audiences, because “Gen Z already live so much of their lives online in the virtual realm, whether it’s with video games or social media”, he says. Some real-life ambassadors are comfortable with using virtual versions of themselves: a virtual avatar of Dior ambassador Angelababy attended the brand’s pre-autumn show in Shanghai in March.
Not all marketers are convinced though. “My sense is that we won’t see it on a global scale anytime soon, because the mainstream consumer isn’t quite ready for that level of integration with technology,” says Watson. Instead of spending a million dollars on virtual influencers or a spot with BTS, he has a different suggestion: “Find a hundred real individuals across TikTok, YouTube and other channels that your target market might be utilising and give them $10,000 to promote your brand. If you can get even 5 or 10 per cent of those to hit, you’re going to be able to build your base and mitigate some of that risk of failure.”
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